London Scottish assistant coach James Brown has warned the form book goes out of the window when his side go to fellow Championship strugglers Esher on Saturday, writes Douglas Elder.

The clash is crucial to both teams’ hopes of survival this season, with whoever prevails taking a bonus point into the round-robin relegation play-offs involving the league’s bottom-four teams.

Esher have won only once this season while the Exiles have a tally of five triumphs – including a 32-17 triumph over Saturday’s hosts earlier in the season – but Brown insisted that counts for nothing.

“With local derbies, form goes out the window and sometimes you can’t tell which way the game is going to go,” he said.

“We are quietly confident about the game, and we’re just aiming to put a performance together.

“We do have one eye on the play-offs at this stage, so a win would be very nice.”

Head coach Simon Amor’s men crashed 21-6 to Nottingham on Sunday, with Brown potting a pair of penalties.